Surfacing Ch. 24

"What about the Moon Goddesses?" I asked.

The ancient queen shook her head. "Those don't exist. The Moons are the other faces of Musanlo, when his direct, burning gaze turns away."

"The Sun God showing us the back of his head?"

"His profiles," Innathi said irritably. "His Left Side, and his Right. They have had vast symbolism and deep meaning for longer than Ishuna has reigned in darkness. It offends me when you sound so flippant."

That couldn't be right.

"My apology for my ignorance, your grace," I said. "I have much to learn."

"Hmph," she grunted. "You almost sound sincere."

I shrugged. "It is true." Working over the details in the following moment, I shook my head. "Musanlo never had Sisters in your time. You are trying to find a match now but this is not what you lived with."

Innathi folded her arms beneath her breasts and straightened her shoulders. "Where did you get this idea that the Moons were Musanlo's Sisters?"

I had to stop and think about that. Maybe I was assuming, too... Isboern had never said it. Neither had Gavin. I had first heard it from Elder Rausery while she trained us on the Surface. She probably just called it that because it made the most sense to her; she had lived in a Sisterhood for centuries, and the nighttime was the time that she preferred. That any reasonable Drow would prefer.

"If it was not from Musanlo's messenger," Innathi said snidely, "then it may just be your ignorance and separation from your heritage."

"Duly noted," I said. "In that case, what purpose did Nyx and her Deathwalkers serve in your desert, queen?"

Innathi sighed and looked upward at the night Sky. "Entirely due to my marriage with Cris-ri-phon that I knew anything about them."

"Elves do not cross over," I said, "we are reborn."

The ancient queen gave me an odd look. "Reincarnated. Yes. We are the only kind which does. Yet there was a time you didn't know that, Sirana. When did it change? With Nyx's boy?"

Well, yes, it was Gavin's tenacity on the subject...but also...

"Confirmed meeting the two Noldor," I said.

Innathi smirked. "Oh, my. So even they remember more. I am sorry to see how ignorant our people have become."

So was I.

"You see why I need to return to the throne, don't you?" she said, and I nodded.

"So the Deathwalkers have all been Human?"

She shrugged casually. "For as long as there have been Humans, but no doubt something before that. Presumably also dwarves. Others."

"Dragons?" I asked.

Her brows rose up. "No. But I don't believe any but they know what happens when a Dragon dies. And they have long ago stopped sharing that knowledge."

"With the Yun-gar," I prodded. "They taught a magic language to the Yun-gar races, and it became many languages."

Innathi smiled at me, and I tried to read whether this was new to her or not. I couldn't tell.

"You are getting the Dragonchild to talk to you, I see. Well done, Sirana. The Elves were among the first to be taught, if not the first."

That could be true, or she could just presume it so.

Perhaps I was getting Mourn to talk, maybe I would more in the future because of Jael, but... At the beginning, I would have said that Mourn volunteered it. He was just a half-blood mercenary who hadn't needed to explain anything, and yet Gavin had learned to see in the dark within a day. And he had been teaching the Guild for centuries, a little at a time.

But Mourn wasn't a full-blood Dragon. Like Innathi's and Cris's children, no one knew what would happen when he died. Maybe even he didn't know where he belonged.

So, the Baenar former queen claimed to know something about the To'vah and the Elves, about Nyx and the Deathwalkers, the Greylands and the deities of Miurag. And yet she had initially denied Musanlo's Sisters, either as the Moons, or even knowing whether or not they had other names.

The Noldor had other pieces to this; Krithannia had made that plain in Mourn's library and den. I had to ask her about those passages she had read to us again, or perhaps Gavin would remember and could remind me. She had given an astonishing age for those scrolls which she said should have gone back to the Noldor Elders, if not for her own rebellion giving them to Mourn to keep secure below Yong-wen.

Innathi shifted her weight with a harrumph. "You are concentrating so much on Noldor scrolls. They do not mention the Drow?"

I shook my head. "No. It was broad, and vague."

"Old translations often are," she commented. "Each word translated is a choice of one scholar, and over time it grows less and less precise."

"Why?"

She shrugged. "Outsiders looking in. The subtle context of the era itself is gone."

I could believe that. How would anything the Valsharess did down below make any sense to someone living on the Surface thousands of years from now...?

Innathi smirked. "Well, Ishuna is just insane."

I quirked a brow and chose not to think further on that. "The other thing the Noldor read to us, a description of the Noldor observing a strange Human death rite—and mocking it—was from eight to twelve centuries old, she said. If her guess is right, it was written after your time, after the Drow vanished from the Surface, but before the Ma'ab arrived."

The desert queen relaxed a bit, looking vindicated. "As I said, we knew of Nyx through our alliance with Humans—something the Noldor are recorded to have spurned?"

I nodded. That part seemed supported. Yet there were still the ancient scrolls, with the incomprehensible description of the supposed origins of the Deathwalkers. They had been even older, with a different word for the world altogether. Niraj.

"What?" Innathi asked.

"Niraj," I said.

She shook her head. "I do not recognize it."

"What about Miurag?"

"Sounds Draconic. Fine pronunciation, my warrior."

I frowned. She could have caught that earlier.

"Cris-ri-phon was your General," I said abruptly.

Innathi tilted her head curiously and waited.

"So you were at war. With who?"

"Should be obvious," she said. "We were at war with the Noldor."

"Were the Dragons involved?"

"They never got involved in Yun-gar wars."

"Dwarves?"

"Allied with the Noldor at the time."

"And no Ma'ab."

She looked irritated. "Of course not."

"And the Sun God was on the side of the Humans, with a pact with a Greylord to guide them safely through the Greylands when they passed."

"So they claimed."

I narrowed my gaze. "So they claimed?"

Innathi smirked. "Nyx has proven fickle more than once when showing her power."

"She wouldn't have been part of a mortal war supporting Musanlo," I said. "She's neutral. She would clean up the death after."

"And yet her Deathwalkers often advised many a Human ruler, including Cris-ri-phon. A clear power-play on her part."

I chose not to argue that statement, even if I couldn't see the reasoning why. Innathi clearly didn't know; she had already made up her mind.

"One more question," I began, and she gestured an invitation. "Who made Soul Drinker?"

She proved that she did not always anticipate my questions, even if she seemed to glean some of my thoughts and feelings while we communed. She was caught off guard.

Wetting her lips, she spoke cautiously. "Soul Drinker was a gift to a Queen from her Consort, a symbol of gratitude and humility for being chosen. He swore he would never betray me, and if he did, I should use it on him."

Why explain it that way instead of simply say his name?

"Cris-ri-phon gave it to you," I said, "but did he make it?"

Iannthi frowned. "I had assumed so at first. He offered to me one of the only weapons to which he was vulnerable. He was a sorcerer of some power even then, and proven to be long-lived. And fertile."

Quite. Eleven children, with a twelfth killed in birth...

"But now you are not sure he created it?"

"Not all of my memories are as crisp as the day they happened," she answered, slowly clenching one fist. "It has been a very long time for me."

"Alright." I paused. "Did he ever betray you?"

The former queen shook her head. "No. In truth that is why you could not stab him before, though you tried. I told you there are some souls that this dagger simply will not take."

I narrowed my eyes. "Then why did you supposedly never talk to him? You want me to believe that he doesn't know you are here. You said you believed that he has changed enough that he would attempt to subjugate the Drow and rule us if he found us."

"He would," she said flatly, staring into my eyes. "The shrieks of the others here were too loud when he first discovered my body. It took time for me to become ruler of the Elsewhere, and there was a period of separation from my former husband. By the time he found Soul Drinker again... I would not talk to him. He was no longer my husband, but he is the same soul."

Wouldn't Gavin just love hearing about this.

"There were changes," I said.

"I cannot tell you what happened to him, Sirana," Innathi said preemptively. "His mind is splintered, somewhat like yours but different, and I have never communed with him as I have you. But he is not the same."

I nodded, accepting. After a moment I realized that we were...talking. Just talking. We were both calm and each knew the truth of our arrangement.

"Nothing has changed between us, your grace," I said. "You want to know about all this as much as me."

She sighed; I could read her acknowledgement that this was so.

"You won't always be welcome where I am welcome," I said, "but we both know you can stay with me and stay hidden from Cris-ri-phon. I will do what I must, your grace. If it is no longer luck but a quest, then the underground will come when it comes."

Innathi seemed to accept this but wrinkled her nose as if something stank. "Just remember, I loathe Musanlo's messenger as I do Nyx's. Never allow either of them to touch the dagger. Ever."

"They won't," I said. "But as we discussed in our agreement, do not interfere with my negotiations."

She nodded smartly, her arms still folded and her chin up to show a long, graceful next. I took a step down from the platform and imagined myself back at the temple.

"I will go now, your grace. Until next time."

*****

My own hand was pinned to the ground by just-visible bonds as I came aware again on my knees inside Manalar's temple. I tugged, and it wouldn't budge. It was the hand gripping Soul Drinker, though I noticed the psionic pressure didn't enclose the dagger itself.

"Let go, Isboern," I said. "I am all right now."

He stood behind me, though when I turned my head I could see him easily, and he took an extra moment as if to assess the truth of my words before I felt his force of will recede and I could lift my hand from the stone floor.

"I felt I had to, Sirana," he said, stepping forward. "The point of the dagger turned toward your heart when you first drew it. Mourn and I would not give it the chance."

Interesting. I wondered if that was why Innathi had decided to talk, because there was nothing else they could do to me? Or maybe it was just that one, wishful moment of the dagger whenever it is freed. It had often seemed to me that the dagger's tip sought out the nearest heart whenever I brandished it and remained aware of my surroundings.

I got up from the ground and sheathed Soul Drinker with a distant, grumbling hiss scratching at my ears. Turning to look at the two males, I nodded. "She resents being excluded and warns you, Willven Isboern, never to touch the dagger. But our... treaty, for lack of a better word, is still in effect."

The Godblood nodded. "Good to hear. I shall pray I never have reason to touch that blade with my own hand."

Mourn stood tall and quiet with Graul upon his shoulder; I tried to read his expression.

"What?" I asked.

Then hybrid smirked. "I take it she would still welcome me doing so."

"Oh, yes," I said, feeling no doubt on that. "No warning for you. Although she still hates Gavin as much as Isboern."

He grunted. "If she has agreed to keep the peace for now, then there is much work to be done as Gavin readies our third mount."

I perked up. "Has he begun?"

"He is collecting the necessary components, and I will help him to the roof soon. We will do our own preparation first but it will be light as we will be traveling fast. Any other spare time we have I have promised to the Guild and the reinforcement of Manalar as a refuge and safe haven."

"As more of my people return," Isboern said, "they will be coming to the temple for shelter. I am sorry to say change will be slow in their minds about accepting the presence of non-Humans, so -"

"Better to stay out of their view and cause no trouble which would delay us, right?" I finished.

The Captain nodded a bit sadly. "Though I would like the opportunity to speak privately with you one more time before you go."

I knew it.

"Now?"

Isboern actually shook his head. "My Lieutenant is waiting on me to finish here. Before you go, though. Do not leave in the middle the night."

I couldn't quite decide whether he meant that literally or figuratively. I sighed. "Very well."

Talov and Krithannia both found ways in which Tamuril, Jael, and I could help before that first Regiment arrived, primarily moving supplies around. A lot of supplies.

"Where did all this come from?" my young Sister asked in bafflement, and the greybeard winked at her.

"Trade secret, lass."

At one point, Talov caught me setting down a few saddlebags from my shoulders just outside the barracks. I could hear the Templars chopping and banging with their tools, tearing down the damaged and reinforcing what could be saved.

"Hear yer hangin' well," he said to me, dropping an even heavier bundle next to mine.

I gave him a warning look. "Not a lot of time to think about other things since leaving the Retreat."

"Agreed. So we got some interestin' intelligence on the Ma'ab from you." He took a swig from the flask at his hip. "Kind o' balances what they know o' us now."

"That the Guild is playing both sides?"

"We did what the Ma'ab paid us to do, an' like as they might, they don' know about our power structure. I been negotiatin' with 'em, Krithannia has only been seen here."

"But Mourn said he saw Kreshel in person when you made the deal to go after Kurn and Castis, so he's been seen in both places."

Talov nodded with another swig. "Not in his current appearance. Diff'rent guy."

Oh, yeah.

"Fer all they know, you an' Gavin hired yer own bit o' Guild to help Isboern retake this place. An' I mean tah confuse 'em much as I can."

I narrowed my eyes. "Divigna saw us escape the first time from the crypt, after Vo'Traj was killed."

"Yep. An' the same group come back again tah finish th' job. Nothing unusual. Reports are they never got a look at the Shae'goth, so that'll baffle. They may suspect, but stories, they differ."

Didn't I know that well?

"So essentially Isboern, Gavin, Mourn, Jael and I get the blame for all this."

"As ye should." Talov chuckled.

"They will want Gavin badly."

The old dwarf nodded. "Why I agree ye should get 'im his own hermit tower on th' other side o' the continent."

I started and looked about for listening ears, giving the old dwarf a reproachful glare. "Just tell them all our plans, how about? And fuck Mourn for telling you."

Talov shrugged. "He's already plannin' tah go wit' ye, lass, whether ye like it or not."

I almost hissed. "You mean, 'bargain or not.'"

"Aw yeah, that'll be interestin'," the greybeard mused; we'd each lowered our voices as soon as the tower was mentioned. "Can't say I've seen what the kid does when he wants somethin' but can't bargain fer it."

I didn't believe that. "What about Krithannia? Or you?"

"True, maybe the partnership never really ended, jus'..." The elder pondered a bit. "Got repetitive. Only need to reaffirm it once in a while an' avoid the nasty secrets."

Ah.

"So that is the essence," I said. "There are still 'nasty secrets' with me so the bargains are necessary."

"From his view," Talov said, his ruddy cheeks more pronounced with a smile.

"Trust," I said. "It's down to trust again."

The Elder dwarf looked immensely pleased. "Happy tah see ye somehow came upon that concept early, dark Elf. What is yer purpose in demandin' no bargains? Are ye saying he can trust you?"

"I think you are missing who has the nastier secrets between us," I said with mock sweetness.

"Has he done one thing while with ye that makes ye think he means ye harm, Sirana?"

"On the Surface, no. But he wanted Underdark intelligence from me first. Considering how long he waited for the chance to 'undo' what he had done with Manalar, and knowing he has some interest in my queen, then tell me, dwarf, when it comes to the Underdark, how can I be expected to trust him?"

Talov considered, his beard bristling as he moved his mouth in amusing shapes. "Fair point. Guess ye are doin' th' right thing."

I blinked. "Mm, huh?"

The dwarf nodded. "Might pressure ye both tah be more honest. Not a bad thing between partners."

For some reason that last word brought back to my mind the orgy the night before. Different kinds of partners...

The Guildmaster let the subject drop at that point but before he could actually leave the area, I followed him to help with the next load.

"What about Gavin?" I asked. "I was told before I came up here that one only has to follow the Ley Lines to find the power on the Surface. Wouldn't that be how the Ma'ab would find Gavin, even on the other side of the continent?"

"I hear there are ways mages protect themselves from other mages," Talov said. "It ain't so easy as all that. Ye might be able tah follow it for a time but th' trail gets confusin' or hazy, I'm told. The more powerful the mage, the better they can hide from scouts. Even the most powerful cannot find each other so well from a vast distance like that."

I thought about that. It was true, wasn't it? I had followed the vague itch of feeling for a time as I moved from the Surface cave toward the Tower, missing it quite a few times only to stumble across it again, to eventually find Tamuril's hovel. I had needed her knowledge of the land to actually find the Necromancer's Tower. I didn't remember the feeling getting any stronger the closer I got, there was only those black circles and other visible signs while actually walking there on my own two feet. Someone had to actually know where it was to lead someone there, like anywhere.

Subtle protection, but still present.

"What about Manalar?" I asked, picking up two more saddlebags to put across my shoulders. "It seems everyone knows how to find this place."

Talov gave me an appreciative look. "True. Some dare tah be out in the open. 'Tis a diff'rent kind of power. Greater effect on the mundane folk, popular influence. Can't see Gavin wantin' any o' that, but Isboern is the right type fer it, else he wouldna left his family."

I wondered about that. The psion told me he had grown up in secret, away from the "mundane folk." He had never given me any hint that such influence was what he craved. He hadn't wanted to leave this family but had to in order to protect them from that "popular power."

I understood this on some level just meeting the Archbishop, seeing the rich, luxurious inside of his quarters. Willven's mental private place had been simple, unassuming like a laborer content with his work. His public face would be something different.

This led me to remembering Mourn's private quarters, and how they looked. A library with rare books and scrolls, with a vast collection of rare metals, stones, and weapons implied but hidden from view. And his public faces were many.

By comparison, I didn't remember much of my private quarters at my Matron's manor back home. It was whatever quarters a young Noble should have. Then there was the austerity of the barracks at the Cloister. And in my own mental quiet place... Absolutely nothing. No awareness of my body, despite how intensely I feel it while awake. True separation. Just my thoughts, my responses to pressure.